Veteran tackle Eric Winston says he is joining Seahawks

Eight-year veteran tackle Eric Winston, who is the president of the NFL Players Association, said Tuesday on Twitter that he is joining the Seattle Seahawks.

Winston, 30, played for the Arizona Cardinals last season on a one-year deal, winning a starting job after being invited to try out at training camp. This summer at the VMAC in Renton, the 6-foot-6, 305-pound right tackle ostensibly will be competing for a roster spot against the likes of Justin Britt and Alvin Bailey.

Now clean-shaven, veteran tackle Eric Winston said he is joining the Super Bowl-champion Seattle Seahawks after eight years with the Texans, Chiefs and Cardinals. (Frederick Breedon/Getty Images)

The apparent signing, which has not been confirmed by the Seahawks, is likely a reaction to a recent shoulder injury to tackle Michael Bowie, who started eight games for Seattle last season.

[Updated 10:09 a.m.: The Seahawks have announced signing Winston to the team, along with tackle cornerback Terrell Thomas and wide receiver Randall Carroll. To make room on the 90-man roster, Seattle placed receiver Taylor Price on injured reserve, and released cornerback Chandler Fenner and guard Bronson Irwin.]

Winston hasn’t missed a regular-season game since his rookie season in 2006, when he was selected by the Houston Texans in the third round of the NFL draft. His stock had fallen after suffering an ACL injury his junior year of college at Miami (Florida), but he hasn’t missed a game since winning a starting job with the Texans eight years ago.

He played six years for the Texans, starting seven games as a rookie and every one of his games since then. In 2012, the Texans released him and he signed a one-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs, where he started at right tackle every game that season. He joined the Cardinals last year on another one-year contract.

But even as a starter, Winston earned poor grades in both run and pass blocking from Pro Football Focus, which compiles advanced NFL statistics. According to PFF, he allowed seven quarterback sacks and a whopping 43 QB hurries on the Cardinals’ offensive line.

It was at Kansas City that Winston began speaking out publicly on the protection of NFL players from injury. When some Chiefs fans cheered at an injury to their own team’s quarterback, Matt Cassell, Winston scolded Kansas City fans in a postgame interview.

“We are athletes, OK? We are athletes. We are not gladiators. This is not the Roman Coliseum,” Winston said then.

“It’s 100 percent sickening,” he added. “If he’s not the best quarterback, he’s not the best quarterback, and that’s OK. But he’s a person. And he got knocked out in a game and we’ve got 70,000 people cheering that he got knocked out.”

This past March, NFL players elected him president of their players’ union. According to ESPN, his priorities as NFLPA president include player health and safety, financial literacy and working conditions.

Winston’s skills as a locker-room leader helped him earn the vote of NFL players.

“He has great leadership qualities and I think a great grasp on the vision he has for the PA,” Cardinals linebacker Lorenzo Alexander told ESPN. “I think all those things really help him as far as moving forward and strengthening our union as a whole and the perception, I guess, internally and externally from the players.”

Season finally starts for me today! Looking forward to chasing a ring with the Seahawks!! Time go to work!